Meteor shower to light up Sussex skies

Star trail of the Geminid meteor shower

Published:11:37Wednesday 09 December 2015

Sussex stargazers are in for a treat for the next week, as the Geminid meteor shower returns to the UK’s skies.

The Earth will pass through the debris cloud from Apollo asteroid 3200 Phaethon from the 8 December to 17 December, with the thickest concentrations of dust expected on Monday 14, when around 100 meteors per hour can be expected.

Although the peak concentration will be at 1pm GMT on Monday, meteor rates should still be very high on the nights of Sunday 13 and Monday 14.

The timing couldn’t be better for stargazers - with a new moon in the sky there should be little light pollution from our nearest neighbour washing out the spectacular light show, although for optimum viewing, a spot away from the glare of streetlights is recommended.

Sky-watchers would also be advised to wrap up, with temperatures at the weekend dipping to around 7 degrees Celcius at night.

Peak darkness will be around midnight GMT and particles set to hit our atmosphere at around 22 miles (35 kilometres) per second will be visible as they burn up immediately due to air friction.

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage

2) Like our Facebook page

3) Follow us on Twitter

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.